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Regarding Aditya-L1, 2026 is expected to be truly unique.

This marks the initial occasion the spacecraft – that entered in orbit recently – can watch the Sun when it reaches the peak of its solar cycle.

As per scientific data, it comes roughly once every 11 years as the Sun's polarity reverses – a similar Earth scenario would be the planet's poles swapping positions.

It's a time marked by intense activity. It involves the Sun changing from peaceful to violent and is marked by a significant rise in the frequency of solar storms and massive solar flares – enormous clouds of fire that blow out from the solar corona.

Made up of charged particles, a CME can weigh up to a trillion kilograms and reach velocities of up to 3,000km per second. It can head out toward various directions, including towards the Earth. At maximum velocity, it would take a CME about half a day to traverse the 150 million km Earth-Sun distance.

"In the normal or quiet periods, our star emits a few solar eruptions daily," says a leading scientist. "In 2026, we expect them to be 10 or more daily."

Studying CMEs ranks among the most important scientific objectives for the Indian maiden solar mission. Firstly, because the ejections offer a chance to learn about the star in the center of our solar system, and secondly, since events that take place on the Sun endanger systems on Earth and in orbit.

Effects on Earth and Space Infrastructure

Coronal mass ejections rarely pose a direct threat to people, yet they impact our planet by causing magnetic disturbances that impact the weather in Earth's vicinity, where nearly thousands of spacecraft, comprising Indian satellites, orbit.

"The most beautiful manifestations from solar eruptions include northern lights, which are a clear example that solar particles from our star are travelling to Earth," the scientist explains.

"But they can also make all the electronics on a satellite fail, knock down electrical networks and disrupt weather and communication satellites."

Past Solar Incidents

• The strongest solar event ever recorded occurred during the 1859 solar superstorm that disabled telegraph lines worldwide
• In 1989, sections of Quebec's power grid failed, leaving six million people without power for nine hours
• In November 2015, solar activity disturbed air traffic control, causing disruption in Sweden and various European airports
• In February 2022, an ejection caused dozens of spacecraft being lost

With capability to observe what happens in the solar atmosphere and spot a solar storm or a coronal mass ejection as it happens, measure its heat at the source and watch its trajectory, it can work as advanced warning to switch off power grids and spacecraft redirecting them to safety.

The Mission's Unique Advantage

While other space observatories observing our star, Aditya-L1 has an advantage compared to rivals regarding watching the corona.

"Aditya-L1's coronagraph is the exact size that lets it effectively simulate lunar coverage, fully covering the Sun's photosphere permitting an uninterrupted view of almost all solar atmosphere around the clock, 365 days a year, including during solar events," says the researcher.

In other words, this instrument functions as an artificial Moon, blocking the solar glare to let scientists constantly study its faint outer corona – a feat natural eclipses provide only during specific moments.

Moreover, this is the only mission that can study solar events in visible light, letting it measure a CME's temperature and thermal output – key clues indicating how strong a CME would be if it headed toward Earth.

Preparation for Peak Period

In preparation for next year's peak solar activity period, scientists collaborated to study information gathered from one of the largest solar eruption that Aditya-L1 has recorded until now.

It originated on 13 September 2024 during early hours. Its mass totaled billions of tons – the iceberg that sank Titanic weighed much less.

Initially, its temperature reached extreme levels and the energy content comparable to 2.2 million megatons of explosives – relative to nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were much smaller in scale each.

Even though the numbers seem massive, the scientist describes it as a moderate event.

The space rock that eliminated prehistoric life on Earth was 100 million megatons and when the Sun's maximum activity cycle, we could see eruptions with energy content equal to even more than that.

"In my view this eruption we evaluated happened during periods was in the normal activity phase. Now this sets the standard that we'll be using to evaluate what is in store during solar maximum occurs," he says.

"The learnings gained will assist in work out protective measures to implement to protect spacecraft in near space. Additionally, they'll aid us gain a better understanding of our space environment," he concludes.